International staffing agency Adecco Group failed to maintain its double-digit revenue growth of the last few quarters in its Q3 (see Adecco posts another double digit quarter but UK is flat). Group revenues were up 4% to Eur55.3 billion compared to Q310. At constant currency and organically, revenue growth was 7%. Growth was driven by the permanent placement business which saw growth of 18% in constant currency. In contrast, the outplacement business saw a decline of 13%. The change in business mix impacted margins with the gross margin down 60bps. The EBITDA margin was 4.3% - down 20 bps on a year-on-year. Adecco continues to drive towards an EBITDA margin goal of 5.5%.
In the UK & Ireland, there was little improvement from last quarter. Revenues were up just 2% at constant currency to Eur242 million compared to Q310. The bright spot was, once again, the permanent placement business which saw revenues grow 15%. However, the public sector continued to drag things down with difficult market conditions resulting in a 22% revenue decline. The UK Information Technology business’ performance was up 2% compared to 1% growth at Group level.